Apple might reach an agreement with Wikipedia and pay to the platform to be able to use its data in the search results. Every time we do a search through Siri or through the integrated search engine in iOS and macOS, the first results always link to Wikipedia. Even though it is an important source of information for Apple’s assistant in general, there is no financial relationship between the two companies.
Apple might reach an agreement with Wikipedia
But that could change because the Wikimedia Foundation has presented a new commercial project called Wikimedia Enterprise, which will be launched in 2021.
Talks between Wikipedia and the major technology companies are already underway and the agreements could be closed in early June. Although the report does not specify Apple as one of the companies, it is most likely to be along with Google and Microsoft in addition to Amazon.
Apple shows Wikipedia’s data in the search results
Lane Beker, senior director of the Foundation and one of the people responsible for this project states that: “This is the first time the foundation has recognized that commercial users are users of our service. We’ve known they are there, but never really treated them as a user base.”
According to some sources, the free option used by large technology companies will continue to be available but it has proven to be inefficient for many. It might even make more sense financially to switch the business blueprint to paid.
In 2018, Wikipedia’s head of finance, Lisa Seitz-Gruwell criticized Apple in an interview for using this platform without collaborating financially.
